Why I FAILED

Music & Money Monday - Giving

Last Monday, I posted about the widening wealth inequality gap in America. My recommendation for you was to become wealthy enough to give lots of money away.

I have reasons for that idea beyond those that I listed and one of them is supported by this article from Entrepreneur.com which reports that economists have proven that people actually gain wealth as a result of the activity of giving.

“…new economic research backs him up. Emerging evidence—crunchy statistics from real data, not the mushy self-help stuff—supports the contention that giving stimulates prosperity, for both individuals and nations. Charity, it appears, can really make you rich.”

And here’s part of the explanation: “Psychologists and neuroscientists have identified several ways that giving makes us more effective and successful. For example, new research from the University of Oregon finds that charity stimulates parts of the brain called the caudate nucleus and the nucleus accumbens, which are associated with meeting basic needs such as food and shelter—suggesting to the researchers that our brains know that giving is good for us.”

From my own experience, I see a few additional reasons to support that idea that giving and income are interelated:

• Giving is additional motivation for earning money. When you use the capabilities you have to benefit those less fortunate, you begin to find even more ways to use your capabilities.
  
• Not only that, but you begin to see additional ways to benefit others which leads back to earning money too.
• Most importantly though, giving engages you in your money. What’s measured gets managed and you can’t give without measuring what you have. So often times, the most profound result of giving is merely that the giver becomes aware of his or her finances. The awareness then leads to better management of the whole.

I encourage you to give 10% of your income. Give more when you’re wealthy, but 10% is plenty for most people. After a while you won’t miss it, but you’ll be amazed what it does for others and for yourself. And if you need encouragement, consider that there’s a reason America enjoys the wealth and prosperity we do.

“The United States is a remarkably charitable nation. The Giving U.S.A. Foundation estimates that Americans donated nearly $300 billion to charity in 2006—more than the gross domestic product (the annualized value of goods and services produced within a nation) of all but 33 countries in the world. More than three-quarters of this came from private individuals. Additional research suggests that between 65 and 85 percent of Americans give to charities each year.”

Which Music Industry?

Chris Anderson has been repeatedly asked “what’s going to happen to the music industry?” His answer?

“Which music industry? You don’t mean just the one that sells CDs, do you? Because it’s a big mistake to equate the major labels and their plastic disc business with the industry as a whole. Indeed, when you stand back and look at all of music, things don’t look so bad at all.”

His post, Everything in the music industry is up!, tells us that “it appears that every single part of the music industry except the sale of compact discs is up.”

Read the whole thing for details, but even sales of vinyl singles have more than doubled in the UK!

But here’s the coolest point of his post (and it just happens to echo my sentiment from this morning):

“I’d point out that the other group poorly served by the labels are those at the bottom of the curve, the many thousands of bands who fall below the radar of the hit-driven majors. I’d argue that they, too, have nothing to lose by letting their music go free, nothing to lose but the prospect of becoming indentured to companies stuck in last century’s model of monetizing music.”

Exactly.

Music & Money Monday - Inequality Gap

The Wall Street Journal reports that the income-inequality gap has widened as “The richest Americans’ share of national income has hit a postwar record, surpassing the highs reached in the 1990s bull market, and underlining the divergence of economic fortunes blamed for fueling anxiety among American workers.”

Opportunities:

The article continues: “Scholars attribute rising inequality to several factors, including technological change that favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances in communications that enlarge the rewards available to “superstar” performers whether in business, sports or entertainment.”

Despite the fact that the business leaders of the music industry have blown them, the internet and global opportunities are massive for musicians. But this is true for all entertainers, not just for superstars. You have direct access to exponentially more people today than ever before, and those economics will continue to grow. Add to that the fact that the costs related to recording, manufacturing, packaging and shipping music are all but gone and you can see that you don’t need the mega-star fan base to have a legitimate music career.

80/20 Wealth

In the Old Testament of the Bible the Israelites were instructed to observe The Year of Jubilee. There were several components, but central to the plan was a pattern of wealth redistribution. Every 50 years, all the money in the nation was to be equally divided between all the people. In other words, all citizens were granted a “do over” every 50 years.

Why? Because someone was aware of an aspect of humanity that an economist named Pareto would unlock thousands of years later. Namely, that 20 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth.

Why? Because only about 20 percent of the people care to gain wealth, or ever figure out a way to get it. Another 20 percent absolutely don’t care and the middle 60 just go through life taking it as it comes.

My point? While the WSJ article is news, it’s nothing new. Money will never be equally distributed without a mandate from the government (please no, please…).

Money Matters

You’ve had one of two reactions to this post. Either you’re excited to learn about money, or your blood is boiling because “the rich get richer!” In either case you’ve proved my reasoning for highlighting this story: money matters.

Excited?

Making, keeping, investing and using money is not some great mystery. All you need to do is seek and apply knowledge and you can gain great wealth. It takes hard work, but it can be done.

But at the risk of sounding trite, money cannot buy you happiness. Wealth will not make you or those around you happy. It will not solve your problems and it will not make you lovable. What it will do is reduce stress a bit (if you let it) and allow you to help people - see giving below.

Blood Boiling?
If you’re upset about the injustice of this story, I have two questions: First, do you believe money is infinite? It is. See, money is nothing but a promise and as nations of the world continue to experience increased standards of living (which they are on the whole ), more people will participate in those promises. Second, what are you going to do about it? If your answer is take from the rich, wrong. How ’bout you figure out how to earn a great deal and give bunches of it away - which leads to…

Giving
In fact, how ’bout all of you do that? Beyond the typical reason of getting more stuff, the only reason for earning money is to help others and it’s also the only way to truly affect peoples lives.

I want you to succeed and earn more money than you can imagine so that you can give freely and change people’s lives. Despite the coverage of the media, it’s the world’s rich people that are creating the most economic and social change in the world. It has always been this way and it is this way today. The wealth of the past gave us today’s libraries, hospitals, colleges, fire departments, and a host of other social institutions. The wealth of today is at work helping others and solving problems as well.

Danger
One word of caution though: too few people controlling too much wealth is a very big problem. Simply put, there isn’t enough collective intelligence, compassion and self-lessness to prevent bad decisions. And because they’re in control of so much wealth, the bad decisions can have grave consequences.

In my admittedly limited view, I think this is yet another reason to encourage you to succeed. We need more people controlling this wealth.

And giving it away.

Failure Friday - Britney Spears

I actually like Britney’s music. No, I don’t own any of it, but I’ve enjoyed several of her hits starting with “Baby One More Time” through “Oops…I Did It Again” and several others. I thought “Toxic” kicked butt as a radio hit and have to mention that Nickel Creek does a pretty mean rendition too - “Toxic” on mandolin, who knew?

My only fear from the beginning was that Britney would turn out like, well, like she has. But my wife and I had a hunch she would and I’m saddened but not surprised by the latest turn of events. On yesterday’s Foxnews.com, in a piece spotlighting a judges decision to deny Britney visitation with her young children, Roger Friedman writes:

“What Spears is not understanding is that she’s killing not only her relationship with her kids, but with her fans. Her single “Gimme More” is dead at radio, where it’s languishing at the bottom of every chart, according to Radio & Records.”

I disagree with Mr. Friedman. I think Britney is killing her career on purpose because she never wanted to be a star.

15 years ago I was hired to play drums on a custom project for a girl from Arkansas (it wasn’t Britney, btw). At the recording studio, I met a mom and her 18 year old daughter. After we recorded the first track, I had the following conversation with the girl:

Me to the girl: “So, where are you from?”

Mom: “We’re from Arkansas.”

Me to the girl: “How long have you been singing?”

Mom: “She’s been singing since she was 5 years old” followed by 15 minutes describing her daughter’s achievements that concluded with the statement “I just KNOW she’s going to be a star!”

I eventually managed to get a few feeble words out of the girl, but the mom dominated the entire day. It was painfully obvious to everyone there (except mom) that the girl did not want to be a star. She couldn’t sing - zero pitch and zero rhythm - and she KNEW she couldn’t sing.

I’ll never forget the sad, hollow look on her face all day. This was a girl who felt powerless to fight her MOM’S dreams of stardom. It’s a look I often see from Britney.

Britney Spears is failing because she doesn’t want to succeed at what she’s doing. She doesn’t want to FAIL, she just doesn’t care about succeeding as a pop star anymore. How else can you explain the recent MTV awards’ fiasco? Being unprepared for the most important gig of your career is not the behavior of someone who wants to succeed. Unconsciously or consciously, it’s sabotage. I just hope she escapes with her life.

So what about you? Are you unconsciously or consciously sabotaging your career?

Look at your actions. What are you doing? How do you spend your time? Who do you hang around with? There’s a reason for the cliche “actions speak louder than words.” What are your actions saying?

I’m not saying this to discourage you. Quite the opposite. I hope to encourage you to live a life that will make you deeply happy and satisfied. I’ve quoted Howard Thurman before, but it fits here:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

The world does not need Britney Spears to satisfy its needs for pop stars. If she quits tomorrow, there are a thousand other girls ready to take her place. What the world DOES need is a young woman named Britney Spears living the life she was meant to live.

And we need the same thing from you.

The Head of EMI Gets It

From an article in Forbes magazine tracking the purchase vs. pirating of Radioheads’ “In Rainbows”:

An internal memo circulated at EMI, Radiohead’s former record label,
and obtained by Forbes.com, demonstrates the album’s tectonic effects
on the music industry.

“The recorded music industry … has for
too long been dependent on how many CDs can be sold,” writes Guy Hands,
EMI’s chairman. “The industry, rather than embracing digitalization and
the opportunities it brings for promotion of product and distribution
through multiple channels, has stuck its head in the sand. Radiohead’s
actions are a wake-up call which we should all welcome and respond to
with creativity and energy.”

WOW! That is HUGE coming from big label.

But as Seth Godin said here about the fact that the labels might be waking up:

“The irony, of course, is that by jumping in last, they’re condemning themselves to more mediocrity.”

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What I Believe in The Words of Ben Stein

A friend of mine passed this to me today. It is was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. I’m including it in its entirety because it powerfully and articulately expresses my deepest beliefs (even though we have different faiths) and its message deserves to be spread. As I said to my friend, I’m struck by how effectively it skewers political correctness while being wholly politically correct.

Enjoy the balanced and measured words of Mr. Stein:

“My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away .

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?  I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Katrina)  Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.

She said, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events…terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell.  Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says . Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.  My Best Regards.

Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein”

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Music & Money Tuesday - 9.1 Cents Continued

In yesterday’s Music & Money Monday post I said that “9.1 cents is the amount of money that is at the core of the dilemma facing the music business.”

I’ve realized I misspoke. The 9.1 cents is not the problem. It’s the 90.9 cent difference between the mechanical royalty (9.1 cents) and the going price of a download from the downloading services. And it’s the 15 or so bucks difference to the going rate of a CD (I’m figuring $1.00 for mechanical royalties on 10 tracks).

I have a reason for self-correcting, but first let me make it clear that I have NOTHING against artists earning money for their art. It’s insane that so many people don’t understand, or don’t care to understand, the fact that passing along copyrighted music is a crime - and most music is copyrighted.

So my reason for writing? There’s too much profit within the 90 cents. There’s no question in my mind that there are additional costs beyond mechanical rights in the packaging and delivery of digital music, but 90 cents worth? Ah…um….I don’t think so. It’s simply not possible.

This is why I’m so frustrated with the music industry today. They are holding onto mindsets and economics that cannot be sustained. And their grip on these things has caused most of the public to lose respect for the industry.

It’s a public relations disaster that shows no signs of ending soon.

Imagine what’s going to happen when someone really figures out the right economics? It will happen and it will be cool.

Music & Money Monday - 9.1 Cents

Would you like to know some secrets about the music industry? How ’bout these?

“there is no easy way to identify who owns which rights in and to most pieces of music and there is no easy way to get a quote and pay them.”

or

“9.1 cents per cut on a CD or per download that is compulsory under the current copyright laws…usually divided up by the record company, the publisher(s), the producers, performers, composers and other interested parties.”

These are quotes from a Shelly Palmer piece from The Huffington Post entitled Lawsuit: Music Publishers v. YouTube Doesn’t Solve The Problem. I’ve chosen this for this Music & Money Monday post for two reasons:

- First, Palmer does an excellent job describing the various rights associated with music. Master, Sync, Public Performance and Mechanical (9.1 cents) are just some of the rights covered in the post (and Palmer is quick to point out he’s not covered them all). Even if you think you know the ins-and-outs of music contracts, I recommend you read the entire post.

- 9.1 cents. Yes, 9.1 cents is the amount of money that is at the core of the dilemma facing the music business. Of course I’m over simplifying, but not by that much. Remember, I had a record contract so I’ve seen this writing (with my signature on it too).

9.1 cents is the amount of money collected out of proceeds every time a mechanical copy (literally a “product” - CD, tape, LP and now, digital download) is purchased. And to quote Palmer again, this is money the money that’s “divided up by the record company, the publisher(s), the producers, performers, composers and other interested parties.”

In other words, with the exception of the publishers, this is how all the artistic folks get paid. It’s also the amount they all split in order to get paid.

9.1 cents.

NOW what do you think of Radiohead’s idea?

New Layout Day 2

I’m pleased with the new layout for whyifailed.com and will be busy tweaking and fixing throughout today. Tweaking colors and positioning and fixing things like The Book page that I completely blew out yesterday - OOPS!

Thanks for your patience and please contact or comment with your thoughts, suggestions or encouragements.

And I hope you have a wonder-FULL weekend.

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New Layout Day 1

I’m launching a new layout while laid up for the weekend (minor voluntary outpatient  procedure).

Please be patient while I get everything fixed up properly.
Thanks, Steve

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